one of my tiger barbs bloated up what disease would cause this?

[Randy19615]

Hi one of my tiger barbs bloated up overnight what disease would cause it to bloat?
it looked like some of the scales were comming off as well? Is this a parasite?

What should I do to treat the tank?

Randy

[Vizerdrix]

I hope I'm wrong, but it sounds like he has dropsy.  If he does, and the scales are sticking out, his chances are not very good.  I would still recommend treating the whole tank with an antibacterial remedy, I use Melafix by API; it's an all natural herbal extract and will not hurt the tank biology or any fragile fish or plants.

[babblefish1960]

From your description, I agree with it being likely to be dropsy.  This is a bad thing of course, and rarely can fish be brought back from that stage.  It is imperative that you keep a close eye on the remaining fish as well to discover any contraindications early enough to consider treatment before it becomes pointless.

[Crumpet]

I use Melafix by API; it's an all natural herbal extract and will not hurt the tank biology or any fragile fish or plants.

Melafix is great for healing minor open wounds/damaged fins, but really isn't terribly effective against something like dropsy, in my experience.

[Nerine]

dropsy is easy to diagnose, but the cause of it not so easy...and unfortunately by the time the fish has swelled up, internal damage has usually gone too far to repair...

I'd treat the tank, and put the bloated one in quarantine and do a water change on the main tank just in case it's contagious.

Good luck!!

[cora]

I always had that problem with Tiger Barbs. I would have a lovely school then they would drop off one by one with that problem until I only had one or 2 left. Of course I could never ever find Barbs that where big enough to fit in with the school LOL. Thats mainly why I dont keep tiger Barbs anymore. lol

[Randy19615]

thanks for the advice everyone, I put the one tiger barb to rest last night  the others (knock wood) have not shown any signs of dropsy yet... from what I have read online about the disease is that the fish is pretty much doomed if it gets this disease. I hope that it was an isolated case.....

thanks again